Here Are the Secret Messages Hidden in Taylor Swift’s New Album, 1989

1989 is out! As you spend the rest of the day covertly listening to Taylor Swift’s fifth album at work (“Oh, uh, this wistful expression and these watery eyes are just a reaction to this . . . especially moving Excel spreadsheet I’m looking at”), your listening experience may be aided by the embedded secret messages Swift has left us in the lyrics.

As she has for her previous albums, Swift highlighted certain letters in the liner notes to spell out short phrases associated with each track. While in the past the hidden messages tended to hint at which ex-boyfriend a song might be about (“Maple Lattes,” “I Wear Heels Now,” etc.), the messages on 1989 are not quite so specific. Instead, the hidden messages on 1989 tell a story of a girl and boy (maybe Harry Styles?) who “loved each other recklessly” but then “paid the price.” Eventually he “comes back,” but the “girl” does not seem to care, as, per the final message (corresponding to album closer “Clean”): “She lost him but she found herself and somehow that was everything.”